Monday, October 01, 2007

Yesterday had to be one of the most exciting days of college football I've ever seen.

If you didn't enjoy what happened on college football fields across America Saturday, well, you really should be following a different sport. Five of the top 10 teams lost, seven of the top 13 and nine of the top 25.

What a day! Or, as I now call it - since there is some rule per ESPN that you must "name" an exciting or shocking day of college football: Holy-Shit-I-Think-I-Just-Wet-Myself Saturday

In case you missed it (and if you did, you probably don't read this blog anyway)...

#3 Oklahoma lost to Colorado on a FG on the last play of the game (capping off the Buffs scoring 20 unanswered points!)#4 Florida lost to unranked and two-loss Auburn on a FG - twice! - on the last play of the game...at the Swamp!#5 West Virginia lost to #18 South Florida on Friday# 7 Texas lost to unranked Kansas State...in Austin!#10 Rutgers lost to unranked Maryland, which was hopefully the karma gods' way of smiting Scarlet Knights fans for their recently exposed boorish behavior#11 Oregon lost to #6 Cal after the Duck receiver fumbled the game-tying TD out of the endzone with :16 seconds left#13 Clemson last to Georgia Tech in the Tigers' annual unmasking# 21 Penn State lost to Illinois as the FireJoePa sites heat back up yet again#22 Alabama lost to Florida State...which in today's college football environment probably means spark up the FireNickSaban sites (or at least get him to return a couple mil of his contract. And thank goodness for the last second miracle over Arkansas or he'd really be hearing it)

In addition to those losses...

#1 USC escaped with a three point victory at Washington, with the Huskies having a chance at the end# 9 Wisconsin squeaked past Michigan State by three, with the Spartans having a chance at the end

Oh, and some team named Michigan realized in the second half of its game that there is no NCAA rule mandating that they must lose to any college football team running the spread offense, no matter how crappy they are.

To me, the two most shocking (and exciting from a college football fan perspective) losses were:

* Oklahoma's loss to a Buff team that was a 23 point 'dog and was on the ropes in the third quarter* Florida's loss - at home -to an Auburn team had already lost at home to South Florida and Mississippi State (making that South Florida victory that much more impressive)* With those being the obvious "most shocking" for anybody, to a much lesser extent the biggest shock for me was a tie between 'Bama (because I don't think FSU is that good) and Penn State (because I thought they would come out complete focused after the Michigan loss)

The least surprising losses were:

* Texas going down to KSU. Texas has struggled all year. This was just a matter of time. And Colt McCoy simply imploded today.* WVU losing to S. Florida. They always play such a weak non-con schedule that I just think they're never going to be ready when they get tested in their conference. They remind me a lot of the Kansas State teams of the '90s - filling up on cupcakes, which results in a high ranking, only to lose a game or two when it counts. This time it just happened earlier than usual.* Clemson - did anybody really think this team was going to make a serious run...ever?

* For some reason, with the game on the line, I found myself cheering very hard for MSU to beat Wisco in Camp Randall. Speaking of this game, I thought MSU coach Mark Dantonio's last two play calls for MSU, with the Spartans having a 3rd and 2 just out of FG range were pretty weak.

27 comments:

Don't doubt USF. WVU was overrated from the start. USF is a very good team. I love watching Matt Grothe play. He's a wonder to watch, even though he didn't play so well on Fri. night. The USF team isn't all that smart, and they didn't play so well in the second half. But then again, the WVU offense is impossible to stop, so hats off to Jim Leavitt and his crew. If we could get Jim Leavitt or Brian Kelly next year that would be great.

I was very happy to see OU lose. I don't like how Bob Stoops runs up the score. Shame on him. And fuck Urban Meyer and the rest of the SEC (maybe except Les Miles).

I was sooo happy when Florida lost lol. And MSU was stupid... i was cheering for them so much, their coach made 2 bad calls at the end like you said... they couldve tied it at least.... crazy college football games.

Horn fan here, and I have to agree that this shouldn't have been a huge surprise to most college FB fans who pay attention. Our offensive playcalling is a joke. Hell we ran a 3 yard out route on 4th and long late in the game. Next week will definitely be interesting - though I still predict us getting monkey stomped by the toothless ones from the other side of the river.

It was a great day of upsets. I shouldn't be greedy after such a feast, but I really wanted to see the Huskies beat USC.

Why are the prognosticators always overrating West Virginia? Is there a contract of which I'm unaware?

Of course, any hint of glee regarding Florida's loss in the swamp after such a cheesy attempt to screw with the kicker could be considered evil gloating on my part. Consider it any way you want, Meyer.

you must be from a Big East fan :-). My Top 5 loses this weekend:1) Florida2) WVU3) OU/UT4) Pen St5) BamaPS: i hate TW/B10 network. Instead on watching Penn State-Illinois, i had to watch Purdue against the Domers. ND actually got some offense AFTER they benched Yost's favorite, 4 time Heisman trophy winner (lemur look-alike), Jimmy Clausen.

I didn't get to see the game (thanks Comcast and Mr. Delaney), but I am very bothered by what I am seeing. Last year we held NW to negative yardage. This year we gave up 417 yards to a team that lost to Duke! If this keeps up, we will never beat a team that runs the spread.

My advice to the Michigan team: study defensive footage of USF and tOSU. USF is strong but tOSU really knows how to defend the spread, which makes tOSU one of the best teams in the country. But it goes to show that a spread offense isn't necessarily better: OSU d-linemen were blowing by the Minn O-line, but let's see what happens when they go up against our O-line in a traditional offense (of course we need to stop being so predictable). OSU might have a little more trouble.

My sympathies go out to the Longhorns. Even though everyone could benefit from Texas losing, I was pulling for them. I like Texas and their fans.

I was happy to see OU go down. I don't like Bob Stoops. And then I'm happy, of course, that UF lost.

I hate MSU and Wisco, but MSU much more b/c their fans suck. There was nothing but trashtalking and gloating from them after we lost to Ack State. And Clemson is a perennial disappointment. To Tiger fans, we feel your pain.

The best losses were easily found in the Big 12. Texas has been terrible all year and after a certain game in Pasadena a couple years ago it was good to see them lose. It was good to see Oklahoma lose b/c the Big 12 is just as bad as our conference. For starters, there's only two good teams there and they both lost. Nebraska is a joke, A&M got smashed by Miami and it appears Missouri is winning the north. That's like Minnesota winning a division if the Big 10 had them. So congrats folks, we're not the worst BCS conference. But wouldn't it have been great if the aforementioned Minnesota could've beat tosu on I-think-I-just-wet-myself-or-something saturday?

It's bullshit. He barely played, first of all. Michigan found the mistake and sought to correct it after 4 games. Other teams have done worse, but when we try to fix a mistake based on misinterpretation of minor technicalities, we face the possibility of forfeiting a game. Meanwhile, fans of other Big 10 teams (ahem, Illinois) are mouthing off that we cheat and run when we're caught. Um, remember our overreaction over the Fab Five fiasco? This is nothing, just an error. It's not right at all that we might have to forfeit a hard-fought game

Meyer's manipulation of Florida's last time out was dirty pool. I didn't begrudge Florida playing the national championship but I resented the hell out of his campaigning. Can't wait until the prick leaves for the NFL and then succeeds Saban at 'Bama.

Also turned into a big Sparty fan during the course of the Wisconsin game, if for one day only.

Been sad watching Rutgers go from scrappy underdogs to Buckeye wannabes in less than a year. Here's hoping that program sinks back into mediocrity in short order.

Would've been great to see Willingham pull it out. Great seeing him have a better season than Charlie Weis.

I was gleeful of all of the upsets!! However I am not a fan of little miss tassle tits...... She is LOOKING at herself, that was not an accident......but then.....I suppose that makes it even better for you guys...LMAO.

Not only did the AP polls get shaken up, but the AT&T Dave Matthews Band contest rankings did too! A BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO IS VISITING THE SITE AND SENDING INVITES! Thanks to you, the University of Michigan JUMPED in the rankings from #62 to #31! Remember - the deadline for invites is October 15th! THANKS AND GO BLUE!

Florida game was not surprising at all. If Auburn's schedule requires playing a top 10 team each and every game, they get 1 maybe 2 losses max. It seems that team in Tommy T's era is built for one thing... and that's getting up and playing well against great opponents. Throw them a crappy team or a meaningless bowl game and their heart is never in it. Credit that to the coaching staff not finding a way to motiivate them for lesser opponents. The same can be said for Clemson in the Bowden era.

Oh, MSU gave that game away. How many stupid penalties kept the last few drives alive for Wisky giving them the final 3 points. Wisky is ranked way too high. I can see them in the top 5... in the Big Ten, but shouldn't be sniffing the Top 15 in the national polls. They run the gauntlet in November unscathed and I'll give credit where credit's due, but until then I would not even be surprised if they weren't in the top 20 given the way they're currently playing.

Doea Monica realize what she is saying??? Lets not go to the AT&T site and vote for michigan. better yet go to the site a vote for tOSU to win, i am sure they would all be happy to have him. maybe he will take tressel to south africa and watch some street soccer matches, inspiring the team to play with no gear on!

just wanted to tell you the picture is from World Cup in 2002 of a Brazillian fan. It's a pretty famous pic for futbol fans (soccer to you yanks). If you so desire, use google along those serach lines, but will it really be worth it? Brazillian women are the best lookers tho. Cheers.

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